Tutoring Draco Malfoy
by SiriuslyCaolinn
Summary: Draco has not been doing good work in Transfiguration for awhile so McGonagall has Hermione tutor him. Starts of D/P later on it will be D/Hr. T just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first chapter story in awhile. So please review and criticism is welcome. :] **

* * *

Professor McGonagall sat behind her desk explaining the grading system she had used to grade the essay there were about to get back from her. She finished, flicked her wrist and a pile of essays lazily floated back to their owners. Draco Malfoy's essay came back to him with a large 'T' on it and a note from McGonagall saying, 'see me after class'. Draco rolled his eyes and muttered something rude about her to Crabbe and Goyle.

After class Draco walked up to Professor McGonagall and stood there scowling.

"What did you want to see me for Professor?" Draco sneered, already knowing the answer.

"Mr. Malfoy your last few grades have been, well, they have not been good. You usually do fine work in this class Mr. Malfoy. Surprisingly." She muttered the last word and then asked only to be polite, "is there something wrong?" She never lifted her head from grading papers to let him know that asking the question was just a formality. She was obligated to ask him.

"Nothing's wrong Professor. I'm perfectly fine." Draco mumbled feeling awkward.

"If nothing is wrong then I see no reason why your grades should be failing. I suggest that you get a tutor. I already have someone in mind. Hermione Granger would do an excellent job."

Draco physically shuddered at her name. "I will not get tutored by _her._" Draco stated trying hard not to call her a mudblood because that would get points taken away from his house.

"It's either that or flunk from this class and do not graduate with your friends." McGonagall knew she had hit a nerve.

"Fine," He growled. "When do I start?"

McGonagall smiled, "Tonight, at 7 in the library."

Draco nodded and hurried away he was very angry at McGonagall. But at 7 o'clock Draco stood outside the library waiting for Hermione. Tonight he had decided to wear his hair out of it's usual slicked-back position, instead it was messy and falling in front of his eyes. Hermione turned the corner and put a fake smiled on her face.

"Hi," She gritted her teeth at him.

"Let's just get this done and over with and don't pretend to be happy about this." He gestured to her smile and then began to scan the library. "We're not studying here. How about the prefect common room?" Draco suggested.

Hermione sighed and pushed her bushy brown hair from her face. "Whatever, that sounds fine to me." She frowned and began to walk the other way.

They were in the prefect common room in fifteen minutes. Draco checked that there was no one in there before they went in. Hermione sat on the couch and beckoned Draco to sit next to her. Reluctantly, Draco sat down next to her. They began working on the work in transfiguration that was in the book, first. Hermione got frustrated with him easily, but held it in.

"Look, I just don't get this. It's dumb and this subject is not going to do me any good!" Draco stood up anger and annoyance flowing through him.

"Malfoy, sit back down. Let's just get through this and then we won't have to do this again until Thursday." Hermione's eyes widened and she sighed.

"Look, my name is Draco, not Malfoy. I would appreciate if you used it correctly." He sneered but sat down.

"If you want me to call you Draco then I expect the same in return. So you can call me Hermione not mudblood or Granger or anything else." She said firmly. "Now that we've settled that we can get back to work, okay?" She raised her right eyebrow at him.

"Sure." Draco leaned in to the book and began focusing again.

***

Hermione walked into the Gryffindor common room and tried to sneak back to her dormitory without Ron or Harry seeing her. This hope ended the second she stepped into the common room.

"Hermione, where have you been?" Ron asked, waving her over to them.

"Oh, hi guys, I didn't see you there. I was in the prefect common room studying. It was too noisy in here tonight for me at least. "She grinned nervously and sat down next to Harry.

"Okay, did you finish the potions essay yet?" Ron looked hopeful.

"Yes, I did it yesterday but you need to learn on your own Ronald. You're not seeing mine. Now, I'm going off to bed. Goodnight guys." She smiled at them and bounced off to bed.

"Something is not right with her." Ron sighed.

"Well obviously." Harry looked at Ron with a look of disbelief.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/n: I hope this chapter is good. Please Read and Review!**

* * *

Thursday morning came a little too quickly for Draco's liking. There was a feeling in his stomach he only associated with riding a broomstick for the first time. Pansy met him for breakfast and led him to the Great Hall, her fingers entwined with his.

They sat down at the Slytherin table and Pansy began chatting about that she and her 'girls' had planned for this weekend. Draco zoned out and was brought back to reality by her kissing him. Draco looked down at her and smiled, then pulled her closer.

"What do you say; you and I go into Hogsmeade this weekend instead?" Draco whispered in to her ear seductively.

Pansy looked at him and felt his forehead. Draco laughed and pulled her wrist down.

"What was that for?" He kissed her hand softly before releasing it.

"I'm making sure you aren't sick. We never do stuff like that." Pansy smiled, overjoyed. "I'll clear my schedule, Hogsmeade it is." Draco leaned in to kiss her once more before breakfast arrived on their plates.

***

That night was there before Draco knew it. Again they were in the prefect common room studying. Hermione was once again explaining a concept of transfiguration to Draco. Slower this time, also with visual aids. Hermione finished explaining it and then had Draco repeat it back to her.

"That's much better. So this is kind of a dumb question, but have you been studying this?" Hermione felt a little hopeful when she asked this.

"No, not really I didn't really have the time. I was preoccupied with Pansy. You know." Draco was not sure what had possessed him to say that but he had said it.

"Oh," Hermione's voice fell a bit. "Right, I should have assumed that." She nodded. "All right I want to see how you're doing with the spell part of this." She smiled at him and motioned for him to stand.

"What do you want me to do?" Draco asked his wand at the ready.

"Change your right eyebrow purple please." Hermione conjured up a mirror so he could see what he was doing.

Draco stood there and concentrated on his right eyebrow. For a few moments nothing happened and then a large beard sprouted up on him. It was long and covered his mouth. He reached up to his mouth and pulled red hair away from it.

"It's not funny." He said in reply to Hermione who had at first kept her hand in front of her mouth, but now was rolling around on the couch. Draco dismissed the mirror and went over to her. He took her hand that held her wand and said, "Fix me."

Hermione sat up breathing heavily. "Only if you agree to work on this with me on Saturday." She help her wand up waiting for his reply.

"What about tomorrow? I promised Pansy I'd go to Hogsmeade with her on Saturday." Draco's icy gray eyes looked slightly resentful.

"No, tomorrow is a studying day for me. I already gave up my Tuesday's and Thursday's. I'm not giving up my Friday too. I'm sorry." Hermione pushed books off the couch and motioned for him to sit with her. "You can hang out with her afterwards okay? No matter how much I don't like you, I still don't want to be responsible for you two breaking up."

"You don't?" Draco made a face.

"I don't. I'm not like you Malfoy." She pursed her lips.

"Right, I forgot I was that spiteful." Draco glowered.

"Maybe not to your friends, but to people you hate, like me and my friends, then yes you're spiteful." Hermione returned his glare with a knowing look.

"Harry had a chance to be my friend in first year, but he turned me down. So anyone he's associated with I don't like. You, I was brought up to hate. Well, not you personally, but your kind."

"Well, I find that sad, Draco. The one reason I am glad to be muggle born is that I wasn't taught to hate anyone in the wizarding world. I can choose who I want to dislike. But you know what, you don't have to hate me, or at least the people I represent. No matter how much you blame it on your parents it is completely up to you."

"I would be an outcast from my family, a blood traitor. I'm not sure I could do that." He turned his eyes towards the ground and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I understand." She smiled at him and stood up. "Okay, enough lessons for tonight. I'll see you on Saturday."

Draco stood up, "All right see you on Saturday. Ten o' clock sound okay?" Draco asked, Hermione nodded in reply, handed him his books and raised her wand to remove his beard. "Bye," He walked out of the room.

Hermione quickly cleaned up and made sure the room looked like no one had been in it. She stuffed her books back in to her bag and walked back to the common room slowly not excited for more questioning as to why she had taken up studying in the prefect common room. When she reached the Fat Lady she said the password, 'Fizzing Whizbees' and climbed in to the common room. It was empty because she and Draco had worked late that night. Hermione let out a sigh of relief and sunk down in to one of the squashy chairs by the fireplace. Now it was time for her to finish her own homework.

A few hours later Hermione was done with her homework and dragged herself up into her common room for the few short hours of sleep that she would get before another long day of school was upon her.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

**A/n: Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you guys are enjoying it. Please continue to review I love hearing what you guys think of it. **

* * *

"Hermione why were you so late last night? We went to bed before you even came back. Were you in the prefect common room again?" Harry asked while Ron was on his other side shoveling sausage into his mouth.

Hermione made a disgusted look at Ron and then answered Harry, "Yes, I needed to finish my essay for Professor Binns and it was taking me forever. So I went into the prefect common room again. It's much quieter in there than it is in Gryffindor's." She pulled toast towards herself and began to put butter on it.

"I've been in there and there really isn't much difference. Especially last night, there was no one in the Gryffindor common room. I don't know why you couldn't concentrate." Ron stopped shoving food into his mouth to say this to Hermione and Harry.

"You know me, Ron, I have weird study habits and this is just one that I'm in right now." She wrapped her toast in a napkin and then pushed herself away from the table. "I'm going to go study a bit before classes start. I'll see you in a little bit." She smiled and walked away.

Harry and Ron exchanged quick glances that said plainly that something was going on with her. Ron began to eat quickly again and Harry joined him. When they were done they took their bags and walked up to class. It was Transfiguration.

They slid into their seats and were surprised to see that Hermione was not there yet. Just as class was about to start she slipped in to the seat next to Harry.

"Sorry I'm late professor, I fell asleep in the common room." She pulled out her book and turned her attention to Professor McGonagall.

"You fell asleep?" Ron leaned over Harry to ask her, with an angry look on his face.

"Yes, Ronald I fell asleep. What is the big deal?" She snapped back at him.

"I-I just don't think you should be studying this hard if you're falling asleep in the common room." Ron was caught off guard by Hermione's response.

Hermione saw the look on Ron's face and sighed. "I'm sorry, Ron. I've just been stressed out lately. I didn't mean to take it out on you." She smiled at him.

"Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley are you finished?" Professor McGonagall was looking at them with a very stern look on her face.

Hermione smiled up at her guiltily. "I'm sorry Professor, it won't happen again." Her faced burned bright red. There was jeering in the back of the classroom and when Harry looked back he saw Crabbe and Goyle laughing at her, but Malfoy was sitting there almost looking embarrassed. When Malfoy realized that he hadn't joined in on the "fun" he began to, but he did not look like his usual self. Harry was confused by this. Instead of continuing to stare at Malfoy he turned around to face the front and listen to the rest of the class.

***

"Hey Hermione are you coming to Hogsmeade with us tomorrow?" Ron asked as he lay across the couch in a very relaxed position.

"Um, I can't sorry. This essay for Snape is going to take me awhile." She didn't look up from her work to say this to Ron. It was the end of the day and they were laying around before heading up to bed.

"Why is it that you can never do anything anymore Hermione?" Ron asked as he closed his eyes.

"I'm just busy Ron, something that never happens to you."

"I've been busy plenty of times I just don't ditch my friends when I get busy."

"Well, good for you, but I guess I have to. I think everything will be better soon."

"All right that sounds good. Do you know where Harry is?" Ron asked.

"Hm? Oh, no I don't. I think he mentioned something about sending a letter. I don't know to whom." Hermione shrugged. "Oh here he is." She smiled as Harry walked into the common room.

"Hey guys." Harry greeted Ron and Hermione and then sat in a chair next to Ron.

"Hermione has just informed me that she does not plan on coming with us tomorrow to Hogsmeade." Ron said slowly, eyes still shut.

"Oh and why is that?" Harry turned to Hermione.

"More work, sorry. Now I'm quite sick of talking about this so I'm going to get a good night sleep." She pulled her book bag off the floor and shoved her work in it. "Goodnight Harry, Ron."

"Night Hermione," Both boys said in unison.

Ron sat up and looked at Harry. "So tomorrow we're going to see what's really up with Hermione, because I'm sick of her running off." Ron said to Harry.

"What? No, I can't I'm going to Hogsmeade. Ginny and I made plans. I'm sorry Ron but you're on your own tomorrow. But, you can use the invisibility cloak. Just get it back in one piece." Harry said and patted Ron in his shoulder.

"Fine, I'll let you know if I find anything. I'm going to bed." Ron sulked off to boy's dormitories.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/n: Thanks again for all the reveiws! I wrote this chapter pretty quickly so I hope it's ok!**

* * *

Draco lay on a couch across from the fire place. His white blonde hair lay lazily across his silver gray eyes. He was taking a short nap while waiting for Pansy to arrive in the common room. She skipped down the steps only a few minutes after Draco had begun to take his nap. She ran over to him when she realized he was there.

She pushed his hair from his face before kissing him quickly. He sat up and gave her room to sit down. She sat down next to him and began rattling off her plans about their date the next day. She had obviously been thinking about this ever since Draco had asked her to come with him. It made him a little sad that he would not be able to go with her.

"So I figure we'll make a quick stop to the three broomsticks at the end of the day. I would say Madame Puddifoot's but it's far too frilly there for you…" Draco thought that it was cute that she had put so much thought into the day, but was dreading the storm that would come when he told her that he could no longer go with her to Hogsmeade the next day.

"Pansy, I have something I need to tell you." Draco took her hand that had been waving around in the air while she talking. She talked with her hands all the time. Pansy stopped talking and looked at him, the smile on her face was gone immediately.

"You like someone else." Her face was no longer emotionless, now it was angry.

"No, it's nothing like that," When he said this his stomach dropped, the way it did when he lied to one of his parents, but he was telling the truth. "I just need to tell you that I can't come in to Hogsmeade tomorrow. I'm really sorry." He was getting very nervous while he waited for Pansy to blow up at him.

"You can't come?" Her eyebrows knit together. "Why not?" Pansy's jaw was set and her beady eyes were now narrowed with anger.

"I just can't. Again, I'm sorry. It wasn't my choice it's just something I have to do."

"Why can't you tell me what you're up to? I am your _girlfriend_ I deserve to know why you're canceling on me last minute."

"I can't tell you!" Draco's voice rose higher and louder.

"You never tell me anything Draco. I've gone through all of your weird moods with you. And you still never trust me with anything from you're private life."

"Well, staying with me was your choice, I never demanded that you stay. Maybe you should have left me a long time ago."

"Yeah, maybe I should have. Maybe I will."

"You never will. You have threatened to hundreds of times and you've never done it." Draco smirked.

"I just don't get it Draco everything was going so well! We were finally going to go on our first date, you always screw everything up." Pansy frowned and stood up with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I told you that this was not my choice. I was excited for tomorrow. For once in my life I'm telling the truth that I'm sorry about this whole thing."

"I don't believe you." Pansy pouted. "You never have told me the truth and I don't think you ever will. I've gotten used to you lying to me. I just blow it off."

"But, I'm telling the truth this time." If Pansy had looked at him at that moment she would have known that he in fact was telling the truth, but she kept her back to him.

Pansy closed her eyes and pushed her hands through her hair. "You can be such a jerk sometimes Draco." She sniffed and sat on the chair next to the couch.

Draco slumped back down on the couch and yawned. He was tired and wanted the next day to come quickly just so that it would end soon also. Pansy sat in silence for a long time. Draco could indistinctly hear Pansy sniffling, but he found that he really did not care anymore.

"Look Pansy if you're not going to talk to me anymore then just go to bed."

"Do not tell me what to do. I will go to bed when I want to go and I will sit down here as long as I want." Her voice was sharp with defiance.

"Fine do what you want I'm done with you tonight."  
Pansy huffed and then stood up. "I'm going to bed. I guess I'll see you tomorrow night."

"Maybe I can come to Hogsmeade later and meet up with you. We could still go to the Three Broomsticks."

"I wouldn't want to interfere with your plans." Pansy sniffed once more and then turned and walked off to the girls' dormitories.

Draco lay his head back down and sighed deeply. He hoped that everything would return to normal soon. He had thought of just breaking up with her and ending it all right then, but this was the better choice, maybe. Draco's sense of him and Pansy not being compatible had been heightened from this fight. He decided that he would deal with this problem later. For now he was too tired, too tired to even get up and walk to the boys' dormitories. He twiddled his thumbs for about an hour and his thoughts began to drift off into whatever was laying heavily on his mind. Apparently Hermione Granger was taking up a substantial part of his thoughts because she drifted in and out of his thoughts which were very confused and tired. He shook himself a few times because he didn't want to come to grips with the fact that he was without a doubt attracted to Hermione Granger. He told himself that this was not true.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/n: Sorry I didn't update yesterday. I had two tests to study for and a hockey game. I hope you like this chapter!**

* * *

The next morning the sky outside was bright blue, and no clouds were in sight. There was a slight breeze that made the day feel a little cooler. Hermione sat up in the bed about three hours before the meeting with Draco. She climbed out of bed and decided to take a bath in the prefects bathroom. Once she was there she filled the giant bathtub with water and a lot of other special things that came from the dozen other spouts.

Hermione slid down into the water and breathed in deeply as the warm water hit her body. She swam a few laps and then sat down near the edge of the water. She was worn out from the last few days of vigorous studying with Draco and fighting with Ron. Her stomach was tense with nervousness and something else she could not place. She wasn't exactly sure why she felt this way. She stayed in the bath longer than she usually would but she had been stressed out this week and she needed time to unwind before another long studying session with Draco.

Once she was done she pulled herself out of the bath tub somewhat unwillingly. She dried herself off and quickly put her school robes on. She pointed her want at her hair and it blew it dry. It soon adopted its normal look of brown and bushy.

She tucked her wand in to the waist of her skirt, stepped in to her shoes and walked back to the Gryffindor common room. Harry was sitting on the couch with Ginny and they were conversing quietly. Hermione went over to them to talk before going down to the great hall for breakfast.

"Hi Harry, hi Ginny." Hermione smiled at both of them. "Are you guys going down to breakfast soon?"

"Yeah, we're just waiting for Ron to come down. He was still snoring when I came down."

"Oh great, do you mind if I just sit with you guys while we wait for Ron?"

"Sure, hopefully he'll be down soon." Hermione sat on the other side of Ginny.

They waited for fifteen minutes and there was still no sight of Ron. Hermione was growing antsy because she had to meet Draco in forty-five minutes. She stood up and told Harry and Ginny that she was going to go down to breakfast, she was sick of waiting. She pulled her hair back into a bun as she walked down to the great hall because it was hanging in her face and annoying her.

She walked in to the great hall and sat down by herself at the edge of the Gryffindor table. She again only pulled toast towards herself. Slowly she chewed her toast trying to take as much time as she could. By the time that she had finished eating her toast Harry and Ginny were finally down but Ron was still absent from their presence.

Hermione waved goodbye to Ginny and Harry as she was leaving to go back up to the dormitory to collect books for studying. It took no time at all to get the books. She hurried to the prefect common room. Once she got in the room she found that Draco was already sitting down on the couch. He looked unhappy.

"Hi," Hermione smiled at him.

"Hi," Draco did not return her smile. "Can we just get this done with?"

"Sure, I know you want to get to Hogsmeade as soon as possible."

"Pansy and I had a big fight. I'm not going anymore, I just want to go back to the dungeons."

"Oh, well I'm sure you guys will make up. I mean you guys were finally together." Hermione felt very bad for mentioning Hogsmeade now.

"No, I'm not sure if we're very good together."

"OK why don't we just get started."

"Thanks," Draco sighed and pulled the Transfiguration book out from his bag.

"We're just going to practice the spell today. We don't want you to get all hairy in the next exam." She laughed and again conjured up a mirror in front of his face.

"What do you want me to do this time?" He looked in the mirror and shook the hair from his eyes.

"I want you to give yourself a black handlebar mustache." She giggled at the thought of this.

"Oh God," He rolled his eyes and then pointed his wand above his upper lip. This time he at least got a mustache but it looked more like a shoe brush and it was gray.

"You look like an old man." Hermione was laughing again.

"I do," Draco began to laugh with her. They laughed for awhile and when they stopped both of them were holding their sides.

"Better, but not perfect yet." She waved her hand and the mustache vanished. She had not realized that she could have so much fun with a Slytherin especially not this one. But she had to admit she was enjoying the time she had been spending with him. "Let's have another go."

"OK, I promised I'll get it soon." His eyes were determined.

"Try the same one again." He nodded and concentrated very hard.

In a few seconds a black handlebar mustache appeared above Draco's upper lip. He took the mirror in his hands and admired his handiwork. Hermione clasped her hands together and let out a cheer. She leaned over to him and gave him a hug.

"That was brilliant!" Hermione spoke in to his ear.

When Hermione hugged Draco found himself hugging her back. He wanted to continue hugging her but he let go not wanting it to be awkward. Soon after he let her go there was a thump next to one of the chairs. Draco could have sworn he saw an ankle, but it was gone the next moment.

"Can I try again?" He asked.

"Sure, um try turning your right eyebrow purple again." She was slightly embarrassed about her hugging him, but Draco did not look mad so she let it go.

"OK, I can do it." He pointed his wand at his right eyebrow. It turned a neon shade of purple.

"Good, I think we can be done for today. One Tuesday we can start something new." Hermione placed her books back on her lap and got ready to leave.

"Do you want to go down to Hogsmeade? We could grab a drink at the Hogs Head. It's not the nicest place, but no one either of us knows will be in there."

After a few moments of hesitation Hermione smiled, "Sure, I'd love to. It can be a victory drink."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/n: Please review if you read! Thank you to all of those who have reviewed!**

* * *

Draco and Hermione left the prefect common room together and walked through the hallways together. They were lucky that everyone was in Hogsmeade so no one saw them. Hermione felt very awkward actually spending time with Draco outside of class and studying. She also wished very much that she had done something else with her hair, she was sure that it looked awful like it did every day.

Draco too was nervous, but was excited at the prospect of them spending time together. When she was not looking he shook his hair around, knowing that messy hair looked good on him. He only wished that they could go to the Three Broomsticks instead of the Hog's Head, but it was better than going to the Three Broomsticks. He certainly did not want Crabbe and Goyle walking in on them. Or, and this would be even worse, Pansy coming in and seeing them. That would be a nightmare. He was sure that Hermione had not told Ron or Harry that she was tutoring him and he knew neither of them would be very happy if they saw them together.

They walked through Hogsmeade with hardly any trouble, but when it was necessary they separated to opposite sides of the street. The Hog's Head was empty except for the old barman. Hermione and Draco chose a table in the very back of the shop. Draco offered to get the drinks.

"I'll have a butterbeer. Thank you."

"All right I'll be right back." He hurried up to the counter and ordered a firewhiskey for himself and the butterbeer for Hermione.

"So," Hermione began. "I've been wondering this for a long time. Why are you so nice to me all of a sudden?" Her brown eyes connected with his silver ones and then looked away.

"You're not so bad. I think that I may have been a little harsh on you before." He had a hard time saying this and Hermione was proud that he did say it. "I guess I let my parents views get in my way. I need to be my own person and think for myself." He grinned at her and Hermione blushed. "But I could ask you the same thing, why are you nice to me now? I mean you went from slapping me across the face in third year, to being able to tolerate me." There was a twinkle in his eyes as he mentioned her slapping him.

"I don't know, I guess I have gotten to know the real you and not the person you pretend to be when you're with your friends."

"I know, and I want to be the person I am with you all the time. I hate the way I feel around Crabbe and Goyle and Pansy." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I guess it feels so wrong because now I know I can be different now but it's just hard to be that person."

"It's always harder to be the respectful and honest person, but it always feels better in the end." Hermione took a sip of her drink. "I just wish it could be this nice all the time." She knew that it would never happen but liked to dream.

"Me too, but tomorrow everything will be back the way it always has been."

Hermione was silent after this and continued to drink her butterbeer. Draco's eyes were fixed on her, he wanted to continue talking, but did not know what to say.

"So how long are we going to keep on tutoring, Professor?" He asked hoping that the end was not in sight.

"Well, I don't have much more to teach so after two more lessons maybe." She shrugged looking a little sad.

"Does it have to be that soon?" Draco asked earnestly.

"No, I'm sure I could make up some other lesson plans to keep us occupied." A smile broke out on her face and lit it up.

"Good. I don't really want to stop." Draco returned her smile.

At that moment the door to the Hog's Head opened and Pansy walked in with Crabbe and Goyle behind her. She spotted them first and walked over to them her eyes were full of fury. She pushed through Crabbe and Goyle and stomped over to Draco and Hermione, rage was in each of her movements.

"Draco Malfoy what are you doing here and with the mudblood?" She pursed her lips and had her hands planted firmly on her waist. "Is this a date?" Each word sounded disgusted.

Draco was shocked and was moving his mouth without words for a few seconds. When he found his voice his words sounded like they were coming from his old self. "No, of course it is not a date." He scoffed. "McGonagall just made her tutor me. Why would _I _be on a date with _her_?"

Hermione heard these words and the disgust in his voice and stood up. She felt her face grow hot and her eyes were clouding up. She did not want any of them seeing her cry so she got up from the table.

"I'm going. I'll see you later." She pushed her way through Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle.

Draco put his head in his hands and sighed, he had really just screwed things up. They were going so well and he thought that she might have even liked him. It was over now though, Draco was sure of that. Before he could think over anything else Pansy grabbed him and pulled him up from the table.

"We need to talk now." They left the Hog's Head. "I cannot believe you lied to me!" She glared at him. "We are going back to Hogwarts. Come on!"

***

Hermione knocked her way through the crowd and tried to get back up to the castle as fast as she could. She knew that tutoring him had been a mistake and now she was cursing herself for doing it. Draco Malfoy would never change. He would always revert back to his old ways, they were inborn. Hermione was back up to the castle in ten minutes and threw herself on to her bed. She cried for what felt like hours. It was time for dinner and she had to get her eyes to not look puffy. This was going to take a lot of explaining to Harry and Ron. Having nosy friends was such an annoyance sometimes.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/n: Please review if you read! Thank you for all the great comments. **

* * *

Hermione decided not to go to dinner that night because her eyes were red and swollen and she was certainly not in the mood to talk to Ron and Harry about what had happened to her earlier that day. She did, however, venture down to the common room a little while after dinner. She had cleaned her face up and hoped that the questioning was behind her. When Hermione got down to the common room it was unusually quiet, there were a few groups of people, but they were all keeping to themselves and not being rambunctious. Harry and Ron were sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace and when they saw Hermione come down both their faces darkened. Hermione's stomach slipped she was not sure how they had found out, but she knew that they had.

Hermione gulped and found that her small legs were shaking. She finished walking the steps to the common room and took a seat in the armchair next to Ron.

"Hi," this was all she could manage to say, even her voice was shaky.

"Hello, Hermione." Harry said frostily. Ron did not even look her way.

They sat there in awkward silence and Hermione was getting more nervous by the moment. So she decided to bring up homework. This did not turn out to be such a good topic.

"So, have you finished Professor Binns' essay for his class tomorrow? It was more difficult than his normal ones. I finished it yesterday though." She tried smiling at them.

"Yes, actually I have. I find very interesting that you had time to finish it with all the _extra _work you're doing though."

"Er…extra work? I haven't had any extra-" Hermione was cut off and not allowed to finish.

"YOU HAVE BEEN TUTORING DRACO MALFOY BEHIND OUR BACKS HERMIONE!" Ron bellowed at her.

Hermione was taken aback and her ear was hurting very much because Ron had been sitting next to her when he had yelled this directly in her ear.

"Do not yell at me Ronald Weasley! If you just let me explain myself I can make everything clear!" Hermione was not yelling but her voice was low and filled of fury. She had never been more angry with him.

"Hermione, how could you do this? You know we hate him…I thought you hated him too." He shrugged. "Apparently I was wrong."

"Ron, I did not do this to you. I was asked by Professor McGonagall to tutor him."

"Why didn't she ask someone from his own house or someone from another house? Why did ask you?"

"Why do you think she asked me? She knew that I was going to get the job done. You know McGonagall hates the Slytherins as much as we do, but I think she actually wanted someone who would do a good job."

"Why didn't you say no, Hermione? You knew this would hurt us."

"Because I wanted to do a favor for McGonagall; she's my favorite teacher and I didn't want to disappoint her." Hermione sat there for a moment and then something dawned on her. "How do you know I was tutoring him Ron?" Her eyebrows knit together.

"I um-I don't have to tell you. I found out that's all that matters."

"Harry, how did he find out?" Hermione leaned around Ron and looked at Harry who had been sitting there quietly and very glad that he had not been involved yet.

"I don't think I can say anything."

"Oh please Harry." Hermione rolled her eyes. "You always are on Ron's side."

Harry huffed and sat back in the couch. "Ron had my invisibility cloak. I let him take it so he could see what you were up to." Harry's words all ran together and he said them very fast.

"YOU WHAT?" Hermione turned on Ron and slapped him across the face. "You are the world's biggest arse Ronald Weasley!" She clenched her jaw, trying to calm down.

Ron sat there still surprised that Hermione had slapped him. He had a bright red hand print across his face. "Bloody hell Hermione what was that for?" His voice was not too strong anymore.

"You invaded my privacy. I cannot believe that you did that." Her voice was hurt. "Friends don't spy on their friends."

"Friends don't lie to their friends either Hermione." Ron was holding his face.

"So, we were both wrong, can we just admit that and move on?"

"No, it's not bad enough that you tutored Malfoy, but you hugged him too. You actually _touched _him."

"He got did a spell correctly Ron, I was caught up in the moment."

"Can you explain going to Hogsmeade with him?"

"Again, I was caught up in the moment Ron. And I don't have to explain myself to you anymore. You're not my mum. You're only my friend." She stood up.

"So you don't like him?" Ron's voice came from behind her back.

She turned around and managed to laugh. "No, I do not like Draco Malfoy and I never will." She looked at him sternly. "Does that make you feel better?"

Ron shrugged and sat back in his chair. "I guess. Just please don't spend any more time with him."

"Well, from what happened earlier today I think I am done tutoring him. He showed his true colors too easily." She frowned for an instant and then smiled.

"Good, so now we can start hanging out again? Because Harry really missed you," Ron nodded and clapped Harry on his shoulder. "Didn't you Harry?"

"Yes, Hermione I missed you terribly." He said this very sarcastically, but grinned and slapped the part of the couch next to him. "Come and sit down, I haven't really finished Binns' essay and I need some help. Why do all the Goblins names have to sound so much alike? I mean it just makes the class even more difficult."

"Hand it over and I'll look at it." She took Harry essay and began scratching things out with his quill. "You should be glad I'm back because Professor Binns would have given you a T on this."

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat on that couch for the rest of the night and were up very late. Hermione ended up nearly re-writing Harry's entire essay. Then when she looked at Ron's she had to do the same. They were having fun again and thoroughly enjoying it. By the time they went to bed the fire in the fireplace had been smoldering for over an hour.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/n: Thanks again for the reveiws! I love reading them. This chapter picks up with Draco after Hermione leaves the Hog's Head. I hope you like it. **

* * *

Draco's walk back to the castle was long and uncomfortable. Pansy had taken a grip on his arm in the Hog's Head and had not let go yet. Her nails were digging in to his arm and he wanted her to let go right away. She did not talk to him she just hung on in silence. They walked slowly back up to the castle with Crabbe and Goyle following them at a distance. Draco had hoped to see Hermione, but he had not seen her and was sure that she had run away to the castle as fast as she could. He was sure that she was just about to burst in to tears before she left and Draco felt guilty for that. He hadn't thought of Hermione as someone who would cry at something like that. She was a pretty tough girl and the fact that he had made her cry just made him feel even worse.

When they were back up at the castle Pansy directed him to the common room. When they got back to the common room she cleared it by yelling at everyone. She could be quite forceful when she needed to be. Draco thought again about making Hermione cry and he felt like an ass. He felt like this for what he had done to Hermione and surprisingly he felt bad for lying for Pansy. Draco slumped down into a chair and closed his eyes.

"What the hell were you doing there with her?" Pansy shouted. She was standing above him and looking down at him. Draco could almost see the annoyance bubbling over inside of her.

"I told you that she was tutoring me." He defended himself while trying to keep emotion out of his voice.

"Ok sure," Her voice was dripping in sarcasm. "Why did you say yes? Why didn't you ask for someone else?"

"McGonagall said that I would fail out of the year if I kept on doing badly in her class. She had already assigned Hermione to me so I couldn't changed anything."

"You could have tried to ask for someone else." Pansy crossed her arms across her chest.

"I don't think I could have." There was a pause before Pansy launched into another question.

"Are you guys done tutoring?"

"I don't really think Hermione wants to even look at me anymore, so I think tutoring is out of the question."

"Good." She said smugly.

"No, it's not good. I might fail that class now! Do you want me to not graduate with you guys? Do you want me to be stuck here?"

"No, but I don't want you to spend any more time with _her_ either."

"I know, but she was helping me."

Pansy looked at him and sighed; she sat down on the couch and put her head in her hands. She stayed this way for a few moments. The next time she spoke it was through her fingers and her voice was slightly muffled.

"Please just tell me that you did not actually enjoy spending time with her." Pansy's voice seemed weak and defeated.

"I didn't at first. But she's nicer than I thought. I'm sorry."

"Are you kidding me? You enjoyed spending time with that _Mudblood_?"

Draco shrugged. "Yes, she's a nice person."

"I cannot believe you. Blood traitor," She spat these words at him.

"Do not call me that Pansy!" Draco stood up and glared at her. "I am not a blood traitor!"

"Then don't ever say that a mudblood is nice. All they are is dirt. You need to remember where you came from."

Draco did not want to make their relationship even worse by defending Hermione, but he hated the fact that she had called them dirt. He also was angry that she had called him a blood traitor. He did not want to start anything with her so he bit his lip and held back his words. He would save them for another time.

This was the second time recently that Draco had an overwhelming urge to break up with Pansy. She was not good for him, but he thought, like so many times before, that he would give it a few more days and see what would happen between them. He thought he owed Pansy that. Because whenever he had these thoughts it was during a fight or right before one. He needed to see if they could be something in between fights. Draco wasn't exactly sure why, but he felt that he owed something to Pansy. He sighed and leaned over to her.

"Is everything all right with us?"

Pansy shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know. We'll see." She stood up. "Promise me that you won't see her again?" Her eyes were pleading and they bored in to his.

Draco's stomach clenched and unclenched a few times. "Fine, I won't. I'll try to get help elsewhere."

"Thank you," She almost smiled. "I'm going to go to bed. We'll talk again tomorrow."

"OK." Draco stood up and walked over to her. He hugged her and pulled her close. "I am sorry Pansy. It won't happen again." He whispered this in to her ear. Before he let her go he kissed her on the top of her head. She pulled away and walked back up to her dormitory. "We'll see if you keep that promise."

Draco planned to follow behind her quickly but did not he was too caught in his thoughts. As usual he was not sure if he even wanted tomorrow to come at all. He did not want to have to face Hermione. He also dreaded the talk that Pansy had mentioned that they would have. He knew she would keep on grilling him and forcing him to make promises that he never could keep. He hated their relationship, but it was all he ever knew. They had been connected since first year and he knew that they would never be completely disconnected. She knew too much about him, and he knew far too much about her.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/n: **I apologize for how long it took me to update. I had a huge paper to write! But now it's turned in so hopefully I can write faster. I hope you like the chapter.

* * *

Sundays were lazy and boring days for Ron, Hermione and Harry. They were also lazy days for the rest of the castle. It was full of talking and catching up on homework. This one was especially boring because it was raining. Hermione had been tired all day and had just wanted to lie around all day. She had finished her homework that Friday and was now just rereading her essays and helping Ron and Harry with theirs too. Even though Ron had forgiven Hermione he was giving her the cold shoulder. Hermione was used to Ron's moods and ignored this although it did hurt her to have him treat her like this. She hated it every time they fought.

"So, I think you'll see that I cut out these two paragraphs and written my own below them. Put that in and I'll work on it after that." She handed Ron's essay to him and waited for him to acknowledge her words, but he did not. Hermione brushed this off.

"There's nothing that I really could do for yours, Harry, just a few spelling mistakes." She smiled at him. Harry had actually forgiven her, she knew he was not happy to find out that she had been tutoring Malfoy, but had accepted it and moved on.

"Thanks Hermione." He returned her smile.

In a few moments Ginny came over and snuggled in next to Harry. He kissed her and turned back to Hermione. She pointed out the spelling errors and then turned back to Ron to see if he was done yet. He had not finished so she waited for him.

"Are you going to be all right for potions tomorrow?" Harry had leaned over and asked in her ear.

Hermione, who had been concentrating on Ron write, jumped and then laughed. He had surprised her.

"Harry, I am not pathetic. I'll be fine. With you and Ron there to back me up nothing could be better." She smiled at him. She turned back to Ron who was still writing.

"He'll get better Hermione. He's stubborn you know that." Harry whispered this in her ear and patted her on her back.

"Well I'm done. Harry how about a game of wizard's chess?" Ron looked over at Harry.

"Sounds great," Harry and Ron slid off the couch and began to set up the chess board. Ginny slid over next to Hermione.

"So you actually tutored Malfoy?" Ginny almost laughed in disbelief when these words came out of her mouth.

"I don't know what I was doing." Hermione pushed her hair out of her face. "It was dumb." Ginny clasped her shoulder.

"I don't approve, but I think Ron is freezing you out enough for the both of us." She grinned at her. "Everyone does dumb things. I dated Michael Corner and all he did was cry." She shrugged.

"Well, I won't make that mistake again."

Hermione looked back in her school bag and pulled out a book. She opened it and stuck her nose in the pages. Ginny understood this meant that Hermione did not want to talk about tutoring Draco anymore. So she slid off the couch, sat down next to Harry and lay her chin on his shoulder. Hermione read for a long time, trying to pay attention while Ron cursed and Harry took cheats from Ginny, until she felt like someone's eyes were on her. She peeked over her book and saw a small first year girl with jet black hair and large gray eyes staring unblinkingly at her.

"Do you need something?" Hermione asked sweetly.

"Um- Professor McGonagall wants to see you in her office right away." Her voice was high and squeaky.

"Did she say what she wanted to see me for?" Hermione was perplexed.

"No, just to go and see her as soon as you could," The girl continued to stare up at Hermione.

"Oh, thank you." Hermione smiled at the little girl to get her to stop staring. Once she had smiled the girl ran off as fast as she could. "I guess I have to go to McGonagall's office." She was still rather confused, but wanted to know what it was about. She picked up her bag and shoved the book she had been reading back into it. She stood up and looked at Ron, Harry and Ginny waiting for a goodbye.

"We'll see you later Hermione." Harry nodded to her while one of his chess pieces was getting smashed by one of Ron's. Ginny waved to Hermione as she left and then began to whisper moves in to his ear.

Hermione walked out of the common room and down her regular route to her transfiguration classroom that doubled as McGonagall's office. She mused over the next day and how bad potions was going to be tomorrow. She hoped that like she had told Harry everything would be okay. It was going to be awkward she knew that and Pansy was going to be looking daggers at her the entire class, but she would have to deal with it. It was going to be hard because she knew that she still had a crush on him and she was going to have to face that he was a jerk and would never change.

She reached McGonagall's office and knocked on the door softly. A voice from inside the room told her to enter. When she did she saw a bright blonde head sitting in front of Professor McGonagall's desk. Her first instinct was to turn around and leave the room. Why would Malfoy even be there? They were done tutoring she had taught him everything McGonagall had wanted her to teach him. The only reason they were going to continue on studying together was because they had enjoyed each other's company. She took a steadying breath and walked slowly down to her desk.

"Take a seat Miss Granger." She drew up a chair with her wand and then gestured towards it.

"What did you want to see me Professor?"

"All three of us need to talk."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/n: Again I am very sorry this took such a long time. I feel like the closer the school year gets to ending the more stuff I have to do. I will try my best to get the next chapter up quicker. Please R&R! **

* * *

"We need to talk."

Hermione felt her heart skip a beat and her stomach once again felt as if it dropped from her body. She clasped her hands together.

"Yes, Professor?" Hermione asked looking at her intently and trying her hardest to ignore Draco.

"I wanted to know how tutoring was going." She looked at Hermione and Hermione could have sworn that there was a knowing look in her eyes.

"Oh, well we've finished with the physical changes that you wanted me to teach him. So, I think we're done with lessons now." She smiled at Professor McGonagall.

Draco shot a glance at Hermione and she felt a little guilty for omitting the rest of the story, but that was her private life that should be left out of this. So she decided that it was okay to leave that part of the story out.

"Well, I don't think I want you two to be finished already. I have a few other lessons that I think he needs help with." Professor McGonagall looked over her glasses. Do you have an objection to that? Or do you Mr. Malfoy?" She turned her gaze towards Draco now.

Draco was nervous about this whole discussion. He was split, on one side he really did want continue lessons with Hermione, but on the other side he had promised Pansy not to spend any time with Hermione anymore. He felt that he should keep his promise to Pansy, but the other side of him seemed to be winning.

"Could I, er, have a different tutor Professor?" He sighed and knew that this would hurt Hermione's feelings; he felt it was the right thing to do though.

"A different tutor?" She tapped her fingers on her desk. "Why do you want a different tutor Mr. Malfoy?"

"I just don't think this is working." He shrugged and crossed his arms across his chest.

"I think it is working perfectly well. Your last essay on changing ones physical appearance was done brilliantly." She shook her head, "You will keep your tutor and please do not come to me and complain because this is my final decision." She paused. "Do you have a complaint or any requests Miss Granger?"

Hermione, like Draco felt torn except in three instead of two. Two sides of her were saying "don't tutor him" but for different reasons. The one was that she knew Harry and Ron would be very angry if she began to tutor him again. The second was that she did not feel like dealing with Draco anymore. She did not like him being hot and cold on her. The third side of her, which was winning over the other two, was the feeling of obligation to McGonagall.

"No, Professor I'm okay with it." She tried to sound like she was telling the truth as best as she could.

"Then it is final, on Tuesday you will continue tutoring Mr. Malfoy." She nodded. "Miss Granger I would like to speak with you alone for a moment. Mr. Malfoy you are dismissed."

Draco swept out of the room as fast as he could, debating whether or not to tell Pansy about this. He did not want to and was sure that if he told Pansy she would end things with them for breaking a promise and if he did not tell her and she found out she would break up with him for lying to her. He could not see which way was better for her to find out.

Hermione stayed in her chair and waited for McGonagall to say something to her. She did not want to be in the same room with that jerk again, but decided that she was going to tell Ron and Harry this time. She hoped that they would understand that she was being forced to do this. She also hoped that since she was willing to tell them this time that the anger would be less.

"Miss Granger I just wanted to ask again if you had any problems about this situation that you could not voice with Mr. Malfoy here."

Hermione swallowed hard and forced herself to sound sincere when she spoke even though she knew there was not an ounce of sincerity to her words.

"I was telling the truth Professor. I'm happy to help you out any time." She smiled and pick up her bag. "May I go now? I really would like to get a good sleep tonight."

"Of course Miss Granger, oh and here are the lesson plans for you." She handed Hermione a pack of papers.

"Thank you Professor McGonagall. Have a good night."

"You too and thank you for helping him out, I know you two do not mix well." She nodded to Hermione.

Hermione shoved the papers into her bag as she was walking back to the common room. She had decided on the way back to the common room that she was definitely going to tell Harry and Ron the second he got back so she did not have any room to rethink this decision. She knew that they would hate it, she hated it, she did not want to tutor him, but she had already promised. When she reached the room Harry and Ron were still on the floor playing chess. Ginny had left the common room and Hermione assumed it was for bed.

Hermione walked tentatively over to Ron and Harry and sat down to watch their game. Ron was winning as usual.

"How was your meeting Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Oh, well it was interesting I guess." She sighed and pushed her hair behind an ear. "I actually have a bit of news."

"What is it?" Harry moved one of his chess pieces before turning his full attention on her.

"Professor McGonagall wants me to go on tutoring Draco." Hermione closed her eyes hard.

"And you said yes?"

Hermione nodded and waited for Ron to explode at her.

"Why would you say yes Hermione?" Ron sounded very annoyed.

"Because I didn't want to say no to her, I like helping her out. It's not like I want to tutor him. He's a jerk Ron, but this is the way it is and if you don't like that then you don't need to speak!" Hermione stood up and took her bag with her. "Now I'm going to bed and I'm sorry if you're mad too Harry, but if you have more objections then we can talk about them tomorrow. I'm not in the mood tonight. Goodnight." Hermione stomped off to the dormitories.

"Why does she always get mad at me?" Ron asked Harry like he was innocent.

"You could cut her some slack Ron."

Ron shrugged this off not wanting to take any responsibility and moved another chess piece to one of Harry's. As he watched it crush the other piece he felt much better.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I know it's been so long since I've updated and I am so so sorry about that. I hope this chapter is good and I will update in a few days!! Please reveiw!**

* * *

The next day Draco woke up with a pounding headache and he really did not want to go to class, but it was transfiguration and the class was learning something new. He rolled out of bed and ran his fingers through his hair so that it looked semi-normal. He pulled on a pair of robes and grabbed his school bag. Draco looked down at his watch while running down to the common room. He was late, class was supposed to start in five minutes. Draco cursed under his breath and ran out of the common room towards the transfiguration class room.

He entered the room and the door made a loud creak so that everyone was aware that he was late. He slid in to his desk next to Pansy in the back of the room. Professor McGonagall shot him a stern look, but continued drawing a diagram of the effects of the spell. It seemed to Draco that it was a spell to change inanimate objects in to living objects. Draco shook his head with disbelief knowing that there was no way he would be able to do this spell without lots of help.

Professor McGonagall briefly explained the spell and then passed out chess pieces from a muggle chess game to each table group. Pansy sighed and did not even pick up her wand to try the spell. Draco knew that Pansy thought this was beneath her. She hated doing school work and it was beyond Draco how she was not in need of tutoring. Draco picked up his wand and, concentrating very hard, tried to make his pawn come to life. The chess piece gave a little shudder and then stayed immobile. Of course within minutes Hermione had little chess pieces running across her and Ron's desk. Draco frowned and tried the spell again with no luck.

They spent the whole class doing this and those who could make the chess pieces come to life got various other objects to try and make them living also. Hermione was able to change everything she was given. Draco hated to admit that he understood completely why Hermione was his tutor. He just did not like that it was so difficult. Draco almost was able to make one of his pieces living by the end of class it was in between, it walked but it had a very stiff walk. All that he cared about was that it was moving a little bit. While Draco was working during class Pansy had eventually fallen asleep.

When class was over Draco shook Pansy awake and then waited for her to collect her books. Hermione gave him an icy glare as she walked by him. Harry also gave him a dirty look and Ron's was worse than the other two. Draco guessed fairly accurately that Hermione had told them that she had to tutor him again.

"So Draco what was your meeting about with Professor McGonagall last night? I was asleep when you got back." She batted her eyelashes at him.

He shrugged, "Nothing really, she just wanted to tell me what a good job I'd done on my essay."

"Oh, that's nice! It looks like she's finally acknowledging you. I mean she spends all of her time praising those Gryffindors and they're not even that smart." Pansy looked proud of him and Draco though that she did not even detect the lie.

"Yeah it's great." He smiled and then placed his arm around her shoulders. "Where should we for free period?"

"I guess we could go outside, but it is a little cold. We could just go down to the common room," She put her arm around his waist. "I don't really care either way."

"Let's just go downstairs. It is too cold outside today." He agreed with her.

"Ok. Do you have homework to do or can we just talk?" She looked up into his silver eyes hopefully.

"I'll have to see I might have to look over that essay for Snape. I want to make sure it's all the right facts."

Pansy rolled her eyes, "Since when do you actually care about doing school work?" She sighed, "Especially since it's Snape he won't care, he likes you."

"That's the reason. Snape is the only teacher that really likes me so I don't really want to not hand in homework he knows I can do." He was trying really hard not to get annoyed with her.

"Fine, I guess I can watch you do your essay. If you need any help I can help."

Draco laughed to himself at this remark. He would never ask Pansy for help with Potions. In Potions Pansy was almost as bad as Neville Longbottom. Draco thought better of scoffing at her openly so he just nodded politely in a way that made Pansy think that he might ask her for help.

Once down in the common room Draco pulled out his essay and began scrutinizing it. Pansy, to Draco's dismay, curled up right next to him and lay her head on his shoulder. It made writing kind of difficult, but Draco let it go. He did not feel like making her angry and then having yet another fight with her.

Free period went by quickly and then they had herbology with the Ravenclaws. Draco never liked this class the only thing he did like was that most days he got to talk the whole time. The rest of the day followed with surprising speed. Draco was glad that the day was coming to a close without a fight with Pansy.

After dinner Draco was very full and Pansy was especially chatty. So they sat on the couch in front of a happily crackling fire. Pansy began the conversation as usual.

"So why were Potter, Granger and Weasley giving you such dirty looks after transfiguration?"  
Her eyebrows knit together in a question.

"Um, I don't know. They hate me so why not give me a dirty look?" He was getting a little nervous now because he thought she hadn't noticed.

"You're lying to me Draco! You keep on lying to me too and I am sick of it. I'm not dumb I know when you lie to me." Pansy's eyes smoldered. "She's tutoring you again and I know it."

"So what if she is? I deserve to get the best grades I can in school. If Hermione is the way that I can get those grades then I'm going to get her help. "

"You promised." Her voice was low and angry and in pain.

"Well I mess up sometimes."

"You mess up all the time and I always stand by you." She shrugged. "But not anymore…"

"Excuse me?" Draco was in disbelief.

"We're done. "


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I hope you all like this chapter! I won't be able to update for awhile because I'm going out of the country for about 10 days. I will try to update as soon as I get back. Reviews are always appreciated!**

* * *

Hermione picked at her dinner uninterested. She was very nervous about the lessons tonight and she did not know why. The lessons would be just the same as they were before except with much more tension. She was very hungry, but the nerves killed almost all of her appetite. Both Harry and Ron noticed that she was not eating and they knew why, but did not say anything to her. She finally took one more feeble sip of pumpkin juice and pushed her plate away. Hermione had been debating whether to keep the lesson tonight and had come very close to going to McGonagall and canceling with an obvious lie like "I'm not feeling well". Hermione knew this would not work so she had not gone to talk to McGonagall.

After a few more minutes of watching Harry and Ron stuff their faces with food, something that she hated watching, Hermione stood up and put her bag over one shoulder. "I'm going to tutor Malfoy now. I'll talk to you guys later." She scowled about Malfoy.

"Bye Hermione." Harry waved to.

"Bye," Ron barely managed to get out as his mouth was bursting with food.

Hermione waved to them both and slowly meandered up to the prefect's common room. She did not really care if Draco had to wait for her today. By the time she was at the common room's door she was in a bad mood. She did not want to be there and she did not care who knew. Hermione mumbled the password and walked in to the common room. Draco was already lounging on the couch with his book on his lap. Hermione slouched down next to him on the couch.

"Hi Hermione," Draco said awkwardly.

"Hello, Malfoy."

"So I guess we're back to using last names?"

"Yes," Hermione said quickly. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No," Draco shook his head. Obviously Hermione was in a bad mood tonight. "I guess we should get started." He said gingerly.

"Sure, if you actually want to be taught by me." She cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Look, I made a promise to Pansy that I wouldn't be taught by you anymore. It wasn't my choice-"

"Ok let me cut you off for a second. _You _promised her, so yes it was your choice. Also why the hell would you agree to something like that when the lessons were going just fine?"

Draco's breathing sped up. The only thought that came to his head was _because she thought that I liked you. _He couldn't say that though…could he? "Well, you see, after Pansy and I got back from Hogsmeade. The day that she caught us having drinks, she…uh…she kind of thought that I was falling for you, so I promised not to see you again. To make her feel better because of course I didn't like you."

Hermione's mind raced and her stomach clenched. _He must be lying; Pansy can't have actually thought that he liked me. That's absurd. _She opened her mouth and all that came out was "Oh," She took a few steadying breaths. "Well I know she's your girlfriend and everything, but she's off her rocker." Hermione had a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"She's not my girlfriend anymore." His words were staccato.

"What happened?" Hermione's anger was washing away yet she still tried to hang on to it.

"Well, it's pretty simple, I broke my promise. I was going to be tutored by you again." He shrugged like it was no big deal even though it was.

"I'm sorry. I wish this hadn't caused so much trouble." She was lying of course, but she tried to make it sound like it was the truth. Truthfully she did not care one bit if that pig faced girl had dumped him.

"It doesn't really matter." Draco looked around the room as if to find something else to talk about.

"Why don't we just get started?" Hermione offered feeling equally as awkward as he was.

"Are we just going to start with what we learned yesterday?"

Hermione looked down at the list of topics Professor McGonagall had outlined for her to teach. She ran a finger down the list. "Yep, it's here and we can start with that if you want."

"Sure, do we have anything to use for the spell?"

"I think there's a chess set in here somewhere." She stood up and looked around. It was not on the bookshelf, the table or anywhere else it could conceivably be. Hermione scooted herself under one of the couches to see if it had been stored or pushed under there by accident. Draco, who had joined the search slid in next to her.

Hermione lay her chin on the floor after seeing that there was no chess set underneath it. Draco looked over at her his silver eyes piercing into her deep brown ones.

"I really am sorry Hermione." He sighed. "For everything that happened after Hogsmeade I mean."

"It's ok. I guess I understand making a promise to someone you like. It just didn't work out very well." Hermione felt like she was giving up too easily, but with his eyes drilling into hers like that she couldn't help but forgive him. "I think you could have handled it better."

"I know I could have." Draco took his eyes away from hers and looked around.

"You know what? I just remembered that I think I saw a couple of chess pieces in the envelope that Professor gave to me." Hermione pushed herself out from under the couch and Draco followed suit.

Hermione opened up the envelope and reached all the way down to the bottom. She fumbled around for a moment until her hands grazed a few smooth marble pieces. She pulled them out and placed them on the table. She laughed at how long it had taken them to find these. Draco was focused already and Hermione quickly stopped laughing so that he could concentrate.

Draco did well. He was able to get a knight to gallop around and one of the pawns to hop around. He had trouble getting the queen to move, but Hermione assured him that he could get it next time. It took awhile to clean up because this included catching the pieces Draco had animated. Together they caught them fairly easily and then both packed up their bags.

"I'll see you on Thursday Hermione."

"See you then." Hermione turned to go when Draco caught her arm. He pulled her towards him and their lips met suddenly. Hermione pulled away after letting the kiss linger for a few seconds. She could see that Draco's eyes were huge in shock at what he had just done and was sure that her eyes could only be as big as his. "What was that?" She asked him weakly; Hermione was searching for the emotion that she was feeling.

"Um…I think I just kissed you."

"I think you did." Hermione's cheeks became a brilliant red.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I won't be updating again for a little while, I'm sorry. I hope you guys like this chapter! Please review.**

* * *

Hermione stumbled back to the Gryffindor common room terribly confused. Ron and Harry were waiting up for her. Hermione knew she was going to give something away, she was flushed and her eyes were still huge from shock. She put her head down and walked by them hoping that they would not see her. It was hopeless because they had seen her the second she walked into the common room.

"Hey Hermione, how was tutoring?" Ron asked.

"Oh it was fine." She smiled weakly.

"Did Malfoy cause any more trouble?" Harry asked protectively.

"Um, not really, we just practiced what we learned in class yesterday." Her voice was very high and nervous.

Harry noticed her voice, "Hermione is everything ok?"

Hermione wanted to yell that everything was not ok and that she was very confused about everything because the boy that she hated the most had just kissed her. There was also a huge possibility that she had enjoyed kissing him and wouldn't mind if it happened again. In fact in had happened again after the first time he kissed her. Then Hermione had grabbed her bag and walked as fast as she could out of the prefect's room. She was sure that this was not the right way to handle this, but she was not really good at kissing the person she hated the most.

Instead of telling the truth she just replied with, "Yes, but I'm just really tired and need a good night sleep." She muttered under her breath as she walked to the girl's dorm, "Oh damn we have potions tomorrow."

Ron looked at Harry and raised his eyebrows. "Something's up again, even I can see that."

Harry nodded in agreement. "Maybe she'll want to talk about it tomorrow."

This was not the case; Hermione was not anymore talkative in the morning. Harry tried to coax her into talking by telling her about Ron and his chess game. Ron had beat Harry as usual. Normally, Hermione would have something to say about Wizard's Chess because she did not like this game, but instead she just sat there and ate her breakfast quietly.

No more talking occurred as they left breakfast and walked down to the dungeons for double potions. They took their seats as class began. Harry noticed that Malfoy looked back at Hermione once and as he did red began to creep onto his cheeks. This made Harry very suspicious. As class went on Hermione talked some, but did not mention anything about the night before. Harry planned on asking her about it later.

When everyone was packing up for the end of class Pansy walked past Hermione and gave her a very dirty look and rolled her eyes.

"So Granger how's tutoring going?" She pursed her lips.

"It's going just fine." Hermione said through clenched teeth.

"Well I hope you don't think that just because I dumped Draco that he's fair game for you now." Her eyes squinted into a glare. "Because he doesn't like dirt like you," Pansy smirked and then walked away.

Hermione wanted to laugh in her face and tell her that apparently Draco did like "dirt like her". She kept herself composed and tried not to let her face go red as Draco walked past her. She waited for Harry and Ron to clean up and then they walked out together. Next period they had herbology with the Hufflepuffs and Harry was looking forward to the time they could spend talking.

They walked out to the greenhouses through the cold December air and were glad for the little warmth that the greenhouses provided. Once they were allowed to begin the lesson in groups Harry began to talk.

"So Hermione you never really told us how the lesson went last night."

"Well, it went good, we just worked on the spell that we learned in Transfiguration on Monday, and I think I already told you that." She nodded. "He actually picked everything up fast."

"Then why were you so late? If everything went so well," Harry pushed on.

"We just talked a little bit. I mostly yelled, but it was a productive talk nonetheless." She shrugged and continued with what she was doing.

"What did you talk about?"

"Pansy broke up with him." Hermione blurted out before she could think of anything else to say.

"You talked about his personal issues?" Harry looked very confused.

"No, at first it was other things and then we discussed him and Pansy."

"Why did she break up with him?"

"Because he promised not to tutor me and then lied and started to get tutored by me again." She was really hoping it would not go any further than this.

"Oh," Harry could only think of one more question. "And why was Malfoy blushing when he saw you this morning?"

Hermione's face turned bright pink. "I…wouldn't know…" She kept her eyes away from Harry's.

"Did he do something to you Hermione?" Harry was feeling angry now.

"Harry nothing happened. I promise."

"Well, if I find out that something did happen, I will seriously hurt him." Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Thank you for being protective Harry, but you don't have to worry."

The class ended soon after their conversation and Hermione was thankful because she did not know how much longer she would have held out against Harry's questions. All she really wanted to do was to find Draco and talk to him. She needed to know how he was feeling right now. She needed to know what he was thinking. Before all of this she needed to know what she was thinking. She felt like her brain was going to explode for the first time in her years at Hogwarts and it was not due to overstuffing it with knowledge, it was over a boy.

Hermione walked back into the school and looked around for Draco, she knew she could not just go up to him and talk, but she had to find him. She slowly walked back up to the Gryffindor common room. When she was walking down the hallway to the Fat Lady's Portrait she heard someone whispering her name. She turned and saw Draco.

"Let's go somewhere. We need to talk."

"Ok, talking sounds good." She smiled at him.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/n: Again I am really sorry it took me so long to get this new chapter up. I was having pretty bad writer's block after I got back from vacation. I hope everyone likes this chapter and I will try to get up another one as soon as I can. Please review!**

* * *

Draco and Hermione ducked into an empty classroom. Draco sat on the teacher's desk and patted the spot next to him. Hermione sat down next to him. She was feeling very nervous by now and she kept her eyes on her hands which were in her lap. Draco also felt nervous, but he was excited too. He was happy that they had finally kissed. He leaned back on the desk and sighed contentedly.

"So what exactly is going on between us?" He decided to cut straight to it.

Hermione paused and looked up at him. "I wouldn't really know how to describe it exactly." Hermione smiled a little bit. "What would you say?"

Draco ran his fingers through his white blonde hair and smiled back. "Well, I would like to say that we like each other. I hope that eventually I could call you my girlfriend." His smile grew and he leaned closer to her. "But for now I am perfectly content with this," He kissed her slowly and then pulled back. "How about you?"

Hermione blushed deep red. "I would have to agree with you. But what are we going to do? About us, I mean people can't find out."

Draco rolled his eyes slightly. "By people you mean Potter and Weasley?"

Hermione nodded and sighed. "Ron and Harry are my best friends. I know you hate them, but that doesn't change that they have been by my side since first year." Her eyes widened, "I'm not sure how long I could lie to them about us." She stared intently at Draco.

"I guess I have to understand. Why don't we see how things go for a couple of days and then we can figure out how to deal with telling people?" He reached for one of her hands and laced his fingers with hers. "Does that sound all right to you?"

"I think so." She said this and then took her unoccupied hand and turned Draco's face to hers. They kissed again, longer than before. Hermione did not want it to end, but she pulled away.

"I have to go." Her voice sounded weak. "Harry and Ron are going to wonder where I am. I'm sorry, but on the bright side we have tutoring again tomorrow." She kissed him once more, but quickly this time.

"Bye." Draco let go of her hand and watched her leave a little disappointed that she had to leave so soon.

Hermione could not help, but grin as she walked back into Gryffindor common room. She felt very light and was having a hard time concentrating on anything. She didn't even notice Harry and Ron yelling her name. She only stopped when Harry came up to her and grasped her shoulder. Hermione took a sharp breath.

"Oh Harry, you scared me." She laughed.

"How could I have scared you? Ron and I were calling your name ever since you came in." Harry's eyes narrowed.

"Well you know how you can get really focused on the things going on in your head?" Hermione nodded, "That's how I got scared." She laughed nervously and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Yeah, I guess that does happen to me sometimes." Harry smiled not fully believing her. "Want to sit down for a little bit?"

"Sure," She sat down on the couch in between Harry and Ron.

"So the holidays are coming up and mum said that both of you can come for Christmas if you want." Ron did not notice the awkwardness that Harry was feeling.

"Well I'm coming, obviously. I'm not going back to the Dursley's as usual. How about you Hermione?"

"I'll have to check with mum and dad to see if they want me to come home for the holidays. If they do then I'll go home."

"Cool, I think we're going to have the Order over for dinner on Christmas Eve."

"Sounds like fun it will be really nice to see Remus again." Harry enthused.

"I think Bill's bringing Fleur as well." Ron blushed as he said her name.

"Oh honestly Ron I don't know what you see in her she is so annoying." Hermione huffed.

"Well _you _almost went out with Malfoy, as I remember you both went to Hogsmeade together. What did you see in him?"

"We were going to get a drink after studying for a whole afternoon. Besides I never fawned over him like you do to her."

"At least Fleur's on our side. We've hated Draco since first year."

Hermione did not really have a comeback for that one so she sat there in silence. Ron had a grin on his face; he was pleased to leave her speechless. They sat in silence for a long time. Hermione was staring into the fire that was dying in front of them. Ron was stretched out and had his eyes closed, he still had a smile on his face. Harry was picking at a loose thread in the couch.

Hermione realized she was staring so she shook her head and turned to Harry. "I am going to bed. I'll see you both in the morning for lessons."

"Goodnight Hermione." Ron said with his eyes still closed.

Hermione walked upstairs slowly, she sunk down into bed and lay awake for what seemed like hours. Her mind was alive with thoughts about Draco, Ron and Harry. She honestly had no idea what she was going to do about her predicament. She knew that she really did like Draco, well the Draco that he was when he was with her. She just wanted them to get along; she knew this was a long shot and it never happen, but it did not keep her from wishing this. After thorough thought Hermione could still not decide how or when she could tell Ron and Harry about Draco. She knew they would freak out, she knew that there was a possible chance that they would no longer be friends. The one question she kept asking herself over and over again was _is he worth it? _This question kept knocking around in her head until she had to get up the next day for classes. She was extremely tired and no nearer an answer.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/n: Thank you for the reviews! I hope everyone likes this chapter. I start school on Monday, but I will continue to update whenever I have a chance. Please remember to R&R. **

**Lanvenderlavi: It takes place in their sixth year, but it's not going to follow the plot of the sixth book. **

* * *

Draco could not concentrate the next day during lessons. It began to snow half way through the day and this did not help his concentration one bit. The professors had to stop teaching a few times to make sure that he was actually hearing what they were saying. After class Pansy walked up to him with a smirk on her face.

"Got the mudblood on your mind?" She pursed her lips at him.

Draco blushed angrily. "I do not know what you're talking about Pansy."

"Oh Draco we all know you fancy Granger."

"We?" Draco sounded slightly surprised.

"Well me, my friends because I told them why we broke up, and I think even Crabbe and Goyle are catching on." Pansy grinned.

"Why would you tell people about this?" He asked indignantly.

"Because I just thought that your friends would like to know that you're snogging a mudblood." She sighed impatiently. "You're a pureblood Draco and you're fraternizing with a mudblood. It's going to give you a bad reputation. I figure if you stopped seeing her now, everything would be ok."

"Pansy, it is not your place to tell me who is giving me a bad reputation. You are not my girlfriend anymore. Now we are done talking about this." Draco pulled his book bag over his shoulder and walked away as fast as he could. Pansy stood back and watched him leave with a displeased look on her face.

*

Draco entered the prefect common room to find Hermione already sitting on the couch with her nose in a book. Before Draco had gotten to know Hermione he had thought that this was an annoying that, but now that he knew her he loved the fact that she was a know it all and he loved how attached she was to books. When he came in Hermione heard his footsteps and looked up at him with a big smile on her face. He leaned down and kissed her before sitting down next to her.

"So I have to be honest with you and tell you that I do not feel like studying tonight." He smiled at her and waited for her to get annoyed with him.

"You know what? I don't really feel like it either, but I would feel bad not to, I mean Christmas break starts next week." She sighed and began to pull out their transfiguration book.

"That reminds me, what are you doing for Christmas break anyways?" He grabbed the book from her and set it down on the ground.

"Well Ron has invited Harry and I to come to the Burrow with him."

Draco rolled his eyes, "Oh, that place."

"Hey," She hit his arm. "It's a really nice house. It's so cozy I love it there. You have never actually been there so you wouldn't know. Besides, you don't have to be jealous I didn't say yes to him." She bit her lip and her eyes grew wide. "I was actually going to ask if you wanted to come back home with me for Christmas. I know Muggles aren't really your favorite people, but I just thought it might be relaxing." She shoved this all into one very quick sentence.

Draco took her hands in his and set his light eyes on her dark ones. "I actually think that would be really nice. I just don't know how to get it past my mum. I mean I don't think that she would be very happy if she knew that I was going to spend the holidays with Muggles instead of her."

"Just tell her that you're staying here and then come home with me." Her face brightened.

"Well there is a problem with that plan." He took a deep breath. "Pansy has told almost the entire Slytherin house about us, so if any of them get wind of me going home with you I am sure that they would tell my mum."

"Oh, well that is not good. Do you think you could tell everyone you're going home, but just tell you mum you're staying and then come with me to my house. I mean do you think anyone would catch on to that?"

"Maybe not, it's worth a try." He paused. "What will we be doing at your house for break?"

"I am not entirely sure, but it will be less stressful than being here. No one you know lives in the Muggle world so that is a plus."

"And-er- how much have your parents heard about you disliking me?"

"Ah, well, I'm sure I can gloss things over. I don't think that I have complained about you that much." She giggled and then sunk further into the couch.

"Don't worry. I've complained about you a lot too." Draco laughed and then leaned in to kiss her. "But things are different now it doesn't matter what we said or did before. That's not how it is anymore."

"I'm glad it's not." Hermione sat forward and put her arms around his neck. "Because right now I am happier than I have been in a long time." She kissed him longer than before. Draco pulled Hermione closer to him and leaned into her. They kissed for a long time, but Hermione finally had to pull away to catch her breath. They looked at each other and smiled.

"Do you think Pansy is going to tell anyone else?" Hermione asked with a worried look on her face. "Because that is not exactly how I want Harry and Ron to find out."

"I could talk to her, but if she hasn't already had that idea then she might use it and then tell them. So let's hope she doesn't." He rubbed her arm reassuringly.

"Yea, let's hope, because that would not be fun." She leaned her head against his chest and sighed.

"Although I would like to see the two of you face off. She would not be able to keep up. She really thick."

Hermione laughed, "You are really nice to her." She said sarcastically. "But I'm sorry to say that I don't think that will happen."

Draco laughed too and then looked down at his watch and frowned. "I have to go. I have some homework that I actually need to get finished before classes tomorrow."

"Don't go. You don't really have to do homework do you?"

"Excuse me? You are telling me that I don't have to go homework? Wow." He was in a state of disbelief.

"Oh fine go do your homework. I get to see you on Saturday when we go away for break though." She smiled at him again and kissed him before sticking her nose back in the book she was reading.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hey guys I know it took me soo long to update and I'm really sorry. But I just finished the first marking period so I thought I would finally write another chapter. So here it is! I hope you like it. R&R**

* * *

Hermione checked her trunk once more to make sure that she had packed everything she needed for the break. Once she knew that she was done, Hermione waved her wand at her trunk so that it began to float above the ground. She put her cloak and scarf on and then followed her floating trunk down the steps to the common room. Harry and Ron were already waiting for her with their things.

"I still don't understand why you're not coming to the burrow Hermione." Ron pouted slightly.

"I'm sorry, but my Mum and Dad really wanted me home this Christmas. I think they get a bit bored without me around."

"Are you glad that you don't have to see Malfoy over the holidays? I mean, imagine McGonagall telling you that you still had to tutor him even though we're not in school." Ron laughed.

"Oh yea, that would not have been cool." Hermione felt that she may have overdone the emotion in her voice, but neither Ron nor Harry had caught on. "We should get down to the entrance hall."

Hermione bewitched both Harry and Ron's trunks so that they too were floating down to the entrance hall in front of them. They stood in the entrance hall and watched Filch prod their belongings while they waited for the carriages. Finally, they came and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny Luna and Neville found their own carriage. Luna was chatting the whole time about another one of her made up creatures that she and her father were planning on looking for during the break. Everyone listened to her and tried not to laugh if they could help it.

On the train the situation had not improved much. Luna had finished, but now Neville was raving about Herbology. Hermione occupied herself by reading a book. She was not in the mood to join in on the game of exploding snap that everyone else was playing. Ron looked disappointed when she said that she was not going to play. He cheered up right away after winning three consecutive rounds.

Hermione was getting a little restless so she decided she would try to find somewhere that she could talk to Draco without interruption. She excused herself using the excuse that she needed to use the bathroom. Hermione thought she had seen Draco enter one of the last compartments. She walked by slowly and saw that he was alone. She pulled the door open and smiled at Draco.

"Hi," She was a little nervous.

Draco returned her smile and moved his book bag off the seat next to him. Hermione sat down. "I can't stay long they think I'm in the bathroom."

"That's all right. We don't have much time left before the train gets to King's Cross."

"I'm glad because now that I'm on my way home I'm rather excited to be home again. I think you'll like it too."

"I hope so. It will be nice to have a normal Christmas for the first time in a long time."

Draco wrapped his arm around Hermione and pulled her closer. He leaned down and kissed her deeply. Hermione put her arms around his middle. They continued until Hermione heard the door slide open. She turned around and gasped, Ginny was standing there.

"Hermione, what the-?" She could not finish her sentence because she was so shocked. Ginny shut the door quickly and began walking back to her compartment very fast.

Hermione cursed under her breath. "I'll be back." She rushed after Ginny in hopes of catching her before she returned to the compartment. "Ginny, hold up, please."

Ginny slowed and turned to Hermione. She looked very angry and was still shocked. "Hermione what the hell are you doing with Malfoy?"

"What did it look like I was doing?"

"But why, Hermione? Why Malfoy?"

"Ginny, he's different than the way he acts in public. He's really not as bad as everybody thinks."

"Oh I hardly think that can be true."

"Have you been spending hours alone with him twice a week?" Hermione was getting a bit angry.

"No, I suppose not. But Hermione why haven't you told anybody?"

"Do you actually think Ron and Harry would accept it?" Hermione looked skeptically at Ginny.

"Oh, definitely not," Ginny sighed.

"Please don't tell them. I mean I promise I will, but not right now. My parents are probably going to have a hard time with it too. They have heard all the nasty things I've said about him."

"I won't tell them. Just, tell them soon won't you? The longer you wait the angrier they'll get."

"I'll try to."

"Good luck with your parents. Should I tell the rest of them you won't be back?"

"No, I'll just come with you. I think I've been in the bathroom long enough." She smiled awkwardly.

They walked back to the compartment. Hermione took her seat quietly and stuck her nose back in her book. Soon they arrived back in London and Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny and Luna got off the train together with their trunks. Luna and Neville immediately broke off to find their guardians. Hermione was glad to see that her parents were running late. She went over to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley with Harry, Ron and Ginny.

"We have to leave right away, Bill and Fleur will be home right away and I want to be there when they do."

"Will you be okay Hermione dear?"

"Sure Mrs. Weasley. I'm sure my parents will be here soon." Hermione hugged Harry first then Ron and finally Ginny. She whispered thank you into her ear and then wished them all a happy Christmas. She watched them leave, slightly relieved. Then she began to look around to find Draco. He was leaning on the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

"Hey, sorry I left, but I needed to talk to Ginny. She told me that she wouldn't tell them as long as I told them soon." She sighed and then smiled. "But we'll approach that when we get there."

"Well that is a relief." He smiled and then put his arm around her shoulders. "Are they here yet?"

Hermione scanned the crowds again. "Yes they are actually. Right over there." She pointed to two plain Muggles standing far away from them.

Draco bent down and kissed her. "I'm ready if you are." He took her hand and they walked over to her parents.

"Hermione's parents were what every wizard thought of muggles. They had boring jobs as dentists (even though neither Mr. nor Mrs. Granger would admit it was boring) and they were absolutely baffled by the magical world. In other words they were the exact type of people that Draco would have despised just a few short months ago.

Hermione gave both her parents huge hugs when she saw them and was pleased to see Draco shake both their hands. "Mum, dad, this is Draco Malfoy. He's my boyfriend." Hermione had not gotten used to saying this yet so when she did her voice squeaked.

They exchanged quick looks that neither Draco nor Hermione picked up on. "It's nice to meet you finally. We've heard so much about you." Hermione's mom smiled and waved her hand at him. "Why don't we go back to the house? It's a much better place for introductions."

Mr. Granger took both of their trunks much to Draco's persistence. They walked out to the small silver car that the Granger's owned. Hermione and Draco slid into the backseat and remained silent until they reached the small town where Hermione lived. To Draco all the houses looked the same. The Grangers lived at number 54 and it was a plain house to match Mr. and Mrs. Granger. Hermione loved this house more than anything except Hogwarts. The only reason she liked Hogwarts better was because of the classes and the library.

Hermione and Draco took their trunks inside and up the stairs. "Your room will be down the hallway, the one at the very end. Mine is the one here. My parents sleep in the middle room. That's the bathroom," she pointed to another door next to her room. "We also have another toilet downstairs." She took a deep breath. "If you have any questions just ask."

"It's dinner time." Mrs. Granger yelled up the steps.

"Be right down Mum." She turned to Draco. "Thanks again for doing this."

"I'm having fun; it's new to be in a Muggle house for Christmas. I never thought this would happen. I'm glad I came."

"Good," Hermione grinned. "After dinner I'll show you the rest of town."


End file.
